


Late September

by Ren_Maisley



Series: sweater weather [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Attempt at Humor, Autumn, F/M, Hijinks & Shenanigans, I'm Bad At Tagging, Late homework, Lazy Students, McDonald's coffee, Mentioned Blue Lions Students (Fire Emblem), Slice of Life, Sweater weather, felix and sylvain are bros, girls don't take the boys' bullshit, high school parties, no beta we die like Glenn, tired students
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:53:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25965430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ren_Maisley/pseuds/Ren_Maisley
Summary: Sylvain and Felix are super tired after their disastrous party the previous night. Why did they have to party on a Sunday? Plus their ladies are pissed at them (what else is new) and they probably deserve it. Before they deal with that, they have to turn in Monday's homework.Sylvain and Felix as best bros and their antics.
Relationships: Felix Hugo Fraldarius & Sylvain Jose Gautier, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Series: sweater weather [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1955398
Kudos: 4





	Late September

**Author's Note:**

> Heya!
> 
> So virtually nothing has been planned for this fic; I just wrote this on the foundation of practice dialogue I wrote one summer night. I have a few ideas in my head for where I want this fic to go (they include multiple POVs), so I'll try to outline them out into a whole series.
> 
> I just wanted Felix and Sylvain to do tired-bro antics in chilly autumn weather at high school and their ladies are pissed at them or something.
> 
> Vague details, loose plot, this series might be kinda episodic.
> 
> Song-- [Two Beers In by Free Throw](https://open.spotify.com/track/32wLXVBKUmbURb7iwAJe6r)

Sylvain saluted the sun to keep it out of his droopy eyes as he strolled out the dirty metal doors and toward the track. He spotted his grump leaning against the dirty metal bleachers watching a P.E class run warm-up laps. Of course he was brooding. Sylvain made straight for him, but not before letting his eyes linger on the girls jogging past (but alas, such a sight was fleeting).

“Hey bro,” Sylvain noticed Felix was holding a cup of McDonald’s coffee. Shit, where was his? “Where’s mine?”

Felix took a long sip, squinting his eyes straight ahead. “That’s funny.”

“ ‘M serious.” Talking made Sylvain feel more awake. He’ll keep talking.

“Me too.” Felix shut his eyes. “Can’t string too many words together righ’ now, so don’t even bother with an interrogation.”

“Interrogation? Oh, you mean about last night--”

“Shuddup,” Felix snapped, tipping his head back to finish off his beverage, leaving only the dregs. With a quick spasm of his fingers he crushed the cup, but his arm never moved. He just held the ruined plastic, his gaze refusing to find a waste bin, or anything at all. 

Unforthcoming like always, but Sylvain couldn’t blame him this time. That unpleasant conversation could wait; not to mention Felix looked as tired as he felt. But at least he had a coffee. Sylvain only got an earful from his dad for oversleeping and a kick on his ass from damn Miklan as he rushed out to his car, leaving behind the hope of breakfast and his….

Shit! His homework!

“Fuuuuck. Felix, Hanneman’s assignment. I forgot it at home, and I also didn’t do it. Do you…?”

The stricken expression on Felix’s face made it evident that he forgot as well. He put a hand to his face and groaned, the remains of his cup falling to the ground.

“Goddamnit, and my next missing assignment in that class’ll get me a week’s detention.” Felix was so annoyed he growled. “Shit, shit, shit!”

Sylvain reached out to grab his shorter friend’s shoulder, only to miss and narrowly avoid fumbling forward. “Whoa! Calm down, man. You did the homework right? With right answers and crap?”

Felix leveled his drowsy yet intense glare in Sylvain’s direction. “For the most part. Just left it at my house.”

“Then dude, let’s jus’ go get it. It’s a fifteen-minute roun’ trip to your house, right? School starts in ten, we can stand bein’ a few minutes late, can’t we?”

“Maybe _you_ can. My nex’ tardy will get me a week’s detention as well.”

“Ahhhh,” Sylvain rapped on the side of his head, willing his tired mind to pull itself together and problem-solve. And then--

“Dude! I totally forgot ‘til just now!” Sylvain unzipped his maroon bag and rustled through the messy interior. “Ingrid always slips extra copies of the homework in my backpack!” His arm stilled, and then pulled two crumpled copies out and held them up high. 

“God, I love that girl.” Sylvain thrust out the pages toward his friend. “Alrigh’ Felix, pull those answers back outta that steel trap of yours and throw ‘em on the page!”

Felix furrowed his brow, taking a full five seconds to respond to his friend. “The coffee hasn’t kicked in yet, dipshit. You’re better off reasonin’ out the answers yourself than relying on my memory at the moment.”

_Personally, I think it’s a toss-up at this point._ Sylvain stifled a yawn. “Well someone’s gotta do it--” He gave a sharp intake of breath, not a pleasant thing to do after a yawn.

“What?”

Eyes streaming, Sylvain nodded out toward their sea of classmates. “Dude, isn’t that Ashe out there stretchin’ right now?” 

Felix squinted, looking for the gray-haired boy among the crowd on the track and succeeding. “Yeah, that’s him. He’s definitely _attempting_ to touch his toes.” Felix shook his head. “Why does this matter?”

“Because, last Friday during lunch I heard Ashe talking to Annette--”

“Don’t evoke her name.”

Sylvain rolled his eyes. “They were talking about Hanneman’s assignment! Ashe must have him in a later period without us.” Sylvain began smoothing out the papers in his hand. “He’s an honor roll kid, let’s get him to do our homework!”

Felix considered this, and then began shouting.

“Ashe! Hey, Ashe!”

Ashe perked up at the distant noise that resembled his name. He looked around, his eyes wide and alert, trying to find the source.

“Ashe, over here! By the bleachers!” Felix didn’t seem to care about the stares he was earning from the students that had found the source of the noise before Ashe.

“Goddamnit,” Felix muttered in an undertone, drawing a breath. “ASHE! COME! HERE!”

Ashe finally located his mystery voice; he looked over at the pair and began walking over, smiling sheepishly and avoiding his fellow P.E classmates’ stares.

“Felix, Sylvain, what--” He raised his eyebrows upon closer inspection of their faces. “Whoa, when did your party end last night? Did you forget that there was school the next day?”

“Wait, you were _there_?” Felix asked, alarmed.

Ashe’s eyes widened. “Well, I mean, I stopped by. Your house is so big, I’m not surprised you didn’t see me.”

“When did you arrive? Who invited you?” Felix’s tone was growing sharper.

_Cool your jets man!_ Sylvain pleaded in his head, _If you get worked up people will start to wonder, and that leads to questions you don’t wanna answer right now._

“Felix! Forgot to tell you,” Sylvain said, taking a step forward to grab his classmates’ attention. “Dimitri invited Ashe and Caspar. I saw them arrive near the beginning.” Sylvain gave Felix a very pointed look.

Felix noticed his friend’s signal (it’d be hard not to), and visibly relaxed, successfully translating “near the beginning” as “before the incident.”

“Anyway, never mind that,” Felix took the papers out of Sylvain’s hands and held them out to Ashe. “Do Hanneman’s homework for us.”

Ashe eyed the assignments, his lips pressed together. His arms remained at his sides.

“I’m sorry, but I really shouldn’t." His response sounded practiced, like he's been asked to let other students copy before. "There’s barely enough time as is….”

Sylvain cut in before Felix could respond with one of his scathing retorts. “Come on, man! Just this once.”

Ashe frowned, skeptical. “You said that the last four times.”

_Ah. so this has happened before. That’s right._

“See? We’re so sleep-deprived, we couldn’t even remember those other times. There’s no way we could do it by ourselves.”

‘I don’t know….”

“Dude, please?”

Ashe looked at Felix expectantly.

“...please,” Felix mumbled.

Ashe huffed. “Fine, I’ll write down the answers for you. Hand me a pen.”

“You got it,” Sylvain grinned. He set the extra copies aside and began rifling through his bag once again, feeling for a writing utensil. The expression on his face steadily fell as the seconds ticked away. The two observers could only watch this struggle-- Ashe with disbelief and Felix with barely-contained rage.

“Don’t have one...” It was Sylvain’s turn to mumble.

“Say that again?” Ashe asked, unaware of the impending explosion that was Felix.

“Don’t have one!” Sylvain said with gritted teeth, fighting the urge to laugh. “Not a pen, pencil, or even a fucking _crayon_ in this bag!”

Felix snarled, snatching Sylvain’s backpack away from him while Ashe watched, probably regretting ever getting involved.

“Sylvain, you’ve gotta be fuckin’ kidding me,” Felix said, digging through the bag with an unnecessary amount of force. “You’ve got all this random shit like--” He pulled out a small hand weight and a little plastic package. “A 2-pound dumbbell and,” He dropped the second item in disgust, “a _condom wrapper_ , but not a single pen?”

Sylvain tried to find his voice. “First of all, that dumbbell belongs to Mercedes; second of all, that condom wrapper _also_ belongs to Mercedes, so you can hardly fault me for--”

“Shut _up_ ,” Felix urged, shutting his eyes.

Ashe checked his fitness watch. “Well, you guys got seven minutes until class starts, and I gotta continue my warm-up, so….” He started to back away.

“Wait.” Sylvain could feel the gears in his brain turning. “Ashe, tell us the combination to your locker.”

“What?”

“Tell us the combination! I’d bet Felix’s favorite sword that the homework you did is in a neat, accurately-labeled folder in your locker next to a pencil case chock full of highlighters, ball-point pens, and whatever-the-shit.” Sylvain waved the bundle of papers in his grasp. “We’ll just copy down the answers from your paper on to our copies with one of your pens and mission accomplished! Homework completed, no tardies, everyone’s happy!”

Ashe looked even _more_ hesitant than before.

“Sylvain, I don’t think….”

“Dude, I’ll owe you so much. I’m practically begging here.” He _was_ considering getting on his hands and knees, but the ground was still muddy and damp. He’d do it as a last resort.

“Give it up, man,” Felix said, his tone resigned. “If we get caught looking through a locker that isn’t ours, both of us will get detention, so it’s best if we--”

“You’ll get detention for sure if we don’t do this!” Sylvain argued, surprising himself with how far he was taking this. “You can’t afford detention this week, you have… _things_ to take care of after school.” His hint was vague but he was sure Felix understood. “ _Certain people_ have their last school musical rehearsals this week, or in other words, a _reason_ to stay here after the bells ring, so they don’t _immediately_ go home afterward. You can’t sort things out with them if you’re stuck in detention writing lines for Hanneman!”

As his word cut through the crisp air, genuine anguish seemed to flash across Felix’s face. Sylvain let out a misty sigh and hung his head, out of ideas, and nearly out of time.

“22-16-31. Locker 391,” Ashe said shortly. His gaze, hovering on Felix, contained a small amount of pity; perhaps he was at last night’s party for longer than what he let on. “Don’t let me regret this.”

With that, he turned and jogged away, leaving the no-longer tired duo to their mission.

They started running, racing to beat the impending chimes of a most precise school bell. The grass was still slick, but Sylvain no longer cared about the cleanliness of his jeans.

“Do you remember what Ashe said?” Felix asked, his breath labored. ”Do we need to write down the code... so we don’t forget?”

“Sure man... let me just write it down on my arm with the pen we don’t have,” Sylvain said brightly.

“Shut… your fucking… mouth,” Felix managed.

“Can’t... breathing too heavily,” Sylvain said, trying to grin but mostly failing.

The halls were mostly deserted when they arrived at locker 391, four minutes to 8:00.

“Ok, we gotta write these answers as fast as we can.” Adrenaline pulsed uncomfortably through Sylvain’s stationary body as he twiddled with the combination dial. “Alright, 22, uhhh….” His mind started blanking. “Was it 16 or 15?”

“Goddamnit Sylvain, it was 16! Just hurry!” Felix said, trying to keep his voice low.

“Alright. 22… _16_ … 31!” Sylvain pulled and Ashe’s locker miraculously swung open.

Felix got to keep his favorite sword, because Ashe’s locker was as clean as his language; no paper scraps or candy wrappers, and not a speck of dust in sight. Photos lined the inside of the door: Petra getting ready to shoot an arrow at an archery competition; Caspar holding a grumpy-looking cat; Dedue and the locker’s owner holding up a Duscur-style dish. And sure enough, on the shelf, right next to Ashe’s pencil case full of extra writing utensils, was a yellow folder with _History of Crests - Dr. Hanneman von Essar_ written neatly on the front.

Sylvain seized the folder, ripped it open, and retrieved the assignment dated for yesterday while Felix grabbed a pen for each of them from the pencil case. They both uncrumpled their copies (Felix had to smooth his out along the side of the open locker), uncapped their pens, dropped to their knees, and stopped.

“Sylvain,” Felix said softly, his eyes darting from Ashe’s copy to his own. “Did you make Ingrid angry this last week?”

“O-of course not.” The redhead shut his eyes, knowing this lie would not be able to save him.

_You aren’t the only one dealing with a pissed-off chick right now, Fe._

Felix’s smile was so forced, it looked more like a grimace. “Okay good, so she wouldn’t have any reason to stop giving you extra copies. So you just took out the wrong ones.” His expression didn’t move an inch. “It was a bad joke, but don’t worry, I’m not mad.”

“The thing is--” Felix held his hands up-- “I’m sure as hell not digging through your bag again, lest I touch the thing that came _out_ of that condom wrapper.” He leaned forward, nudging Sylvain’s backpack toward him. “So go on, take out this week’s homework.”

Sylvain took his last breath as a man with a best friend, and said these exact words to his soon-to-be-ex-best friend: “mission, failed, we’ll get ‘em next time.”

Upon registering those words, Felix finally dropped his plastered-on smile and took his first breath out of the several he was gonna use to yell at his now ex-best friend.

\---

The behavior referral cited ‘theft of another student’s property’ as the reason for Sylvain and Felix’s detention despite Ashe’s insistence that they had permission; Byleth believed Ashe, but used theft as the reason because ‘ungodly racket outside a teacher’s classroom while the teacher was trying to grade papers’ wasn’t a valid enough excuse to give out detentions.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey again! 
> 
> Don't worry, Sylvain and Felix aren't really ex-best friends; Felix threatens to cut ties with any given friend every two weeks, and he never does, soooo....
> 
> Also, Ashe picked up the cup Felix dropped; no littering on his watch.
> 
> Thanks for reading! Comments and feedback are appreciated!
> 
> \--Ren Maisley


End file.
